And all his people said, Amen. Please be seated. The Lord continues to carry us through our worship together into fellowship. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in his doing." So that language there, except for that tricky part there, that language is similar to the language of John. Basically says, you're a liar if you proclaim it, but you don't do it. I'm paraphrasing John grossly, but that's essentially it. James is saying something very, very similar here, but we get a little bit tripped up here. Perfect law, the law of liberty, that can be problematic in our understanding a little bit. Again, this relates closely back to what I was talking about with Augustine. The law, or the word of God, provides us the mechanism of freedom. from captivity from those passions. It allows us to choose rightly. I found just something very short that Calvin said, it's amazing, to this end. As long as the law is preached by the external voice of man, and he means only, and not inscribed by the finger and spirit of God on the heart, it is but a dead letter. and as it were a lifeless thing, it is then no longer that the law is deemed imperfect, that it is the law of bondage. And Paul goes on to Galatians 4 and addresses this as well. The law, simply put, the law moves, the law moves from simply being a schoolmaster to us, identifying our sin, to perfector and grantor of grace. And so as Greg comes up and preaches, I would encourage you to hear both the imperfect law and the law of the perfect law, which is the law of grace bestowed upon us. Amen. Please turn your Bibles to first Peter chapter five, and we'll continue our study of this text. as well as in your notes. Take out the insert and use that to follow along. 1 Peter 5 is indeed the text that we have been studying. And this last section of Peter, as he closes out with this final word of exhortation, and in it he gives five different words. But it really is a final challenge, a final charge, 5 through 14, to God's people who were facing persecution and trial. So right as they were going into battle, he gives this final talk. And we're on the third exhortation. that Peter gives in this last section. I'm going to begin in verse 8, which is what we sort of looked at last time, and we're going to go through verse 11. Brothers and sisters, this is indeed the word of our King. Let me invite you to stand together with me out of reverence and respect on account of the reading of God's word. Hear now the word of our King. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. but resist him, firming your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, what an incredible privilege that is ours this very moment. That, Lord, we should be blessed to sit beneath your Word. Lord, this act that we're going to do, planned from eternity past by your divine wisdom, that, Lord, we should sit and sup upon this text, this moment, and this time. Father, thank you. Thank you for this moment. We pray, oh God, that you give us grace to therefore sit up, and Lord, to follow along, and Lord, to engage this text with you. Individually and corporately, oh God, we pray. Holy Spirit, grant us the grace, therefore, to understand your word. Grant us unction in the feasting upon it, that these words would become words of life. And grant me grace to preach your word with fidelity, oh God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. The teaching is found throughout scripture. There is more to this world than meets the eye. Clearly. 1 Samuel 16. Recall God's message to Samuel. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance with the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees not as man sees. You see this in practice in real life. 1 Kings or 2 Kings 6, do you remember that time when Elisha prayed, oh Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Brothers and sisters, truly what is going on in this world right now, right now, is something we don't see. What we see oftentimes is not what's going on. We see with such limited perspective. You remember that time when Christ told his disciples, we're going to go out and we're going to go out. It was late in the day. We're going to go out into a garden and we're going to pray. We're going to watch and we're going to pray. My brothers and sisters, if you know the text, which I know you know it, if you know it yet, you know that they had just spent a tiring day where their brains were stretched beyond their ability to think. Where Christ kept telling them, you don't understand yet. You don't understand yet. What is wrong with you? Have I been with you so long that you don't understand? And they're grappling and they're just seeking to understand. What is God saying? And then they eat this incredible meal. By this time, they are fat, they are full. There's no tryptophan in sheep, but I'm sure there was some tryptophan going through their bodies. So Christ brings them out to the Mount of Olives. And he says, and you can imagine, what? I just want to sit back, relax. No, they're going to go out there and they're going to, you know, he says, watch and pray. Temptation. And then he goes a stone's throw away. You know what the disciples do? They don't see this as an important point. They're just, they're full, they're tired, so they fall asleep. And little do they know that at this very moment, if God allowed it, the entire universe would be shaking as Jesus Christ grappled with his will and God's will. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And then he sweats drops of blood. He comes back, wakes them up. This was before those. And hey, pray, goes away, struggles with God some more. And then a large crowd comes, followed by Judas, comes up, gives Jesus a big kiss. And then Jesus, when they said, where is Jesus? He says, I am. Do you remember that section? He says, I am, which is the statement, God, who shall I say sent me? Yahweh. I am and they all fell down as dead men. I mean, the disciples were at this incredible redemptive moment and they fell asleep. Brothers and sisters, so often in our lives, what is going on visibly does not match what is going on in God's kingdom. Why is that? Because, quite frankly, we don't have God's perspective. But also, secondly, we tend to look at the life through our temporal perspective revolving around what we want. I'll say it again. We tend to look at life from a temporal perspective revolving around what we want, and God looks at the same events from an eternal perspective. His kingdom with regards to what we need. And that's where the struggles come. And that's where the grappling comes. And I'll tell you what, if there's any place where this is multiplied on steroids, it would be during suffering, wouldn't it? When we go through suffering, it's so hard. And we wonder, where is God? And we wonder, what is God doing in our lives? That's exactly the context that Peter's written. As you know, Peter has written the cusp of the Neronian persecution in chapter, I've said now many times, 4 verse 12, the tenor of Peter changes slightly to let us know that this clearly God's people are in the crucible. They're in. the meat grinder. God's people are suffering. People are being rounded up. Read Hebrews 10. They're being rounded up. They're being put in prison. Their homes are being confiscated. They're being tortured. Many of which are being executed. That's what's facing God's people. And as Peter, much of Peter, he talks about suffering. This is his last chance, his last charge in 1 Peter. to give a final word on suffering. And in this exhortation, he gives us God's perspective, not the temporal perspective, but God's divine perspective on how his people ought to view suffering. And so he transitions, after discussing spiritual warfare, right in the middle of that, verse 9, he transitions to the focus and the theme of suffering. So this morning and next week, we're going to look at this. The whole sermon would have been a long sermon, had I done the whole thing, so I have to make a choice. This week I chopped it. So we're going to look at this week and next week, and we're going to look at different points that are clearly being made in this verse, from which we derive incredible things. from the eternal perspective, not our temporal perspective as to what makes us happy or what we think is best for us. It's what's best for us in God's kingdom. Notice with me the first one we saw last week, so I won't spend time on it very much. Notice, earthly suffering is not unique. Notice verse nine. Speaking of their current persecution, no doubt inspired by Satan and his demonicus, Peter wrote, but resist him, Satan. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. Last week we dealt with this. So let me just say a couple passing words of summary and comment. Brothers and sisters, what What an incredible encouragement it is to know, as God's people, that what we're going through is not because we're strange. It's not because we've disobeyed God. It's not because we've done something wrong to merit God's anger. It's common to all of God's people. What you're going through, brothers and sisters, in trial, in suffering, in difficulty, is common to every child of God. That's the point. Look at that text again. Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in. world. And brothers, not only is it just the suffering from the rest of scripture, we can extrapolate and we can say with confidence, not only is it the sufferings, but the doubts that come in suffering, the struggles that rear their ugly head of doubt and wonder and questions of God. Those very doubts that if you think you're the only one going through this and you're only one as a Christian who would doubt God's love or doubt his goodness or doubt his plan, What a miserable place to get to that point to think. I'm the only one. That must mean I'm not saved. What's wrong with me? Why is it that I'm going through this trial and all I can think about is what's God done to me? I know they wouldn't do it. Brother, that's the difficulties. Brothers and sisters, that's the difficulties of just living in life in a physical, corporeal existence. We can't see the inside. So we come here, and I'm the only one struggling. And I say, man, look at all these people. They're dressed so good. They look so nice. I say, hi. They say, hi, back. How you doing? They say, great. How you doing? And if I were honest, I'd bleed. I'd pour out my soul and say, I'm not doing well. I want to scream. I want to change. I'd clench my fists at God and say, God, why are you doing this? Do you know that has come to every Christian? If you felt that way, don't think yourself as weird. Don't think of yourself as unique. Think of yourself as this is what typical Christians do who are sinful, which we all are, when faced with a suffering, an issue much bigger than us. We can go to the place of struggle and questioning and doubts. Such as is common to man, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 10. So brothers and sisters, the worst thing you can do, as Peter's saying here, the worst thing you can do at this moment is to think that you're unique. God is picking on you. That God is the ant bully up in the heavens looking at you saying, man, look at that Christian. We're going to make his life rough. Can you imagine going at this time through the neuroning of persecution? It's hard enough to be in jail. It's hard enough to hear someone in the next cell screaming because they're being tortured, knowing you're next. It's hard enough to live through that, much less to go through it with this way down deep, undergirding current. What have I done to deserve this? Answer, nothing. Okay, well, in one sense, ultimately, you can say everything. Every sin you commit deserves this, but that's not why this is happening. God in his providence has something incredible in store for us as he brings us through trial and suffering, as we'll see from the eternal perspective. So first note, earthly suffering, brothers and sisters, is not unique to you. It's not. Everyone suffers. Yes, even in easy life America, we all at times are suffering. We all go through it. So don't think that you're unique. Don't think that you're weird. You are right where every one of us are if you could only see us as we really are. Now, not all the time we go through it, but brother and sister, we've all had it. So one, it's not unique. Secondly, Now we'll get into new territory. Verse 10. Earthly suffering is not eternal from the perspective of God and his people. Notice verse 10. And after you have suffered for a little while. You see that little phrase? Incredible phrase. Highlight it. Don't miss it. It's an important statement on the pages of scripture. After you have suffered for a little while. One of the things Peter wants his people to understand is that the suffering they're gonna go through is temporal, and being temporal, it's very short, very short at best. What is 50, 60, 70 years against eternity? When you put your foot in the glorious shore of eternity looking back, what will you think? What will be your commentary on 90 years of living, the moment you've entered into a timeless existence where you'll be for eternity? What will 90 years seem like to you or to me? It truly is, from the perspective of God, temporal. Now, having said that, I know that in the midst of pain, one hour can seem like one day. We've all been there on the sickbed. One hour can seem like a horribly long time. So that's not to look lightly upon suffering or to say, oh, it's no big deal. You know, you got cancer. You're dying of cancer with pain. No big deal. It is a big deal. We recognize that. But Peter wants us, God wants us, to have the bigger perspective than just the temporal, where all we see is this pain. All we see is that trial. He wants to see the big picture. Psalm 30, verse 5b, weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. I love that psalm. Brothers and sisters, when an entire life is looked upon, your weeping will seem for just a brief moment. in comparison to the joy that you will have, you and I will have, when the new heavens and new earth, when the dawn of the new age approaches, and we're in that morning. Weeping will be but for a very short time. You gotta understand that. In fact, that's Peter's point throughout this epistle. Go back to 1 Peter 1, verse 6, look in your Bible. He says the same thing. In this, speaking of our glorification, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, the exact same phrase as Peter uses in 510, oligos, and now for a little while you have been, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials for a little while. It's just, in fact, it could be translated as for a few moments. That's what Peter's getting at, just for a few moments. You look at the scope of eternity, know this, that the suffering, the difficulties of life, they really are for a few moments, okay? They're momentary, they're light. And then that, Paul used this very language of Paul. Right? Paul, he said his sufferings, he considered his sufferings momentary light. Now, if you know Bible history at all, if you know the Bible, you know there's nothing momentary light about Paul's suffering in the temporal sense. Paul, man, went through the wringer. Second Corinthians 11, let me just read it. In response to the false teachers, he said, man, Paul, Paul says what he says because he's had an easy life. We're the ones who struggled. Look at us. Follow us because we've struggled. This is what Paul wrote. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I more so, in far more labors and far more imprisonments, beaten times without number. He can't remember how many times he'd been beaten for the cause of Christ, often in the danger of death. Five times I've received from the Jews 39 lashes. Jewish law was if you could withstand 40 lashes, you'd be let free. So they would rip your back up with a cattail, with metal and the whole bit, sharp metal, and they would just rip your flesh off your back. 39 lashes. Paul had those five times. Three times I was beaten with rods. That's the Roman equivalent of 39 lashes. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I've spent in the deep. That means of those three shipwrecks, one of those shipwrecks, he was on driftwood for a whole day, 24 hours, all day, all night. I've been in frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren. I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights and hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure." That's Paul's testimony. And yet that very same man says in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, his sufferings were momentary and light. Why? Because he was looking at eternity. Romans 8, 18, you know the text. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits to us, that awaits us. Brothers and sisters, incredible. When you have the perspective of eternity, you realize, brothers and sisters, that suffering, sorrow, difficulties are momentary and light at best. 1857, David Livingston spoke to Cambridge University on a Friday at chapel, and in this talk, In this time, he would known as this guy who sacrificed so much for God. He addressed that, and this is what he said. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then, which was his life. with the foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink. It does. But let this only be for a moment. All of these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice of this. We ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which he made, who left his father's throne on high to give himself for us. Brothers and sisters, you've got to see, all temporal suffering is not eternal. It's temporal, it's momentary, it's light. Now you say, Greg, why is that so important? Why is Peter stressing this? As he does, 1 Peter 1.6, coming back closes the epistle. Same exact phraseology, right? After you've suffered for a little while. Why is he stressing this? Because brothers and sisters, there is a principle in scripture you and I need to live by. Psalm 90 verse 12, Moses wrote it. teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts towards wisdom. If you and I think, if you and I get so clogged up by this current struggle that we're in, that we can't see beyond it, you and I will lack wisdom. Wisdom comes when you can see God's big picture, which is clearly, fully laid out for us on the pages of God's Word. But when you and I are in difficulty, in trial, when you and I are angry or struggling, what happens to the world? It just collapses and becomes this little dot. And that dot might be pain. That dot may be healing. That dot may... or maybe God, how much longer? And then we start to resent God, and we start battling against God. If you could just keep that eternal perspective, and that's Peter's point. Brothers and sisters, it's momentary. It's for a little while. Understand, some of you will be tortured for the next six months. Some of you will be put in prison where you will probably die over the course of two or three years. Boy, you talk about a long time of suffering. Yes, but the moment you put your big toe in eternity future, you're going to look back and go, whoa, that was so short. Can you live a lot of that? If you can, that's called living by faith. Can you live in light of that truth? If you can, that's living by faith and not by sight. So secondly, Peter says, family of God, earthly suffering is not unique. Secondly, it's not eternal. It's momentary. It's light. Thirdly, earthly suffering is not without divine aid. What is the question that typically is asked when you go through trial? When things don't go your way and you are just day after day, night after night, month after month struggling, what's the question you ask? What's the title of the book? Where is God when it hurts? Where is God when you're suffering? Right, where is God? Third point that Peter makes, earthly suffering is not without divine aid. Notice with me verse 10. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, stop there, wow. The God of all grace. First of all, I want you to realize that Peter is ending his epistle the way that a lot of other epistles end. Now, I've given you verses in your notes, they're actually wrong. 2 Timothy 4.22 would replace 1 Thessalonians, and Colossians 4.18 would replace 2 Thessalonians, and Hebrews 13.20 would be Hebrews 13.25. But they all end the same way, they end with grace. And so you go, Peter's doing the same thing. But if you compare Peter to those epistles, you realize there's a difference. And this is it. Colossians, Timothy, Hebrews ends with a wish. May the grace of God abound. May you know the grace of God. It's a wish, it's a prayer. Would you notice the tenor of Hebrews, of 1 Peter 5.10? And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, Skip down, will himself perfect. This is a promise. This is not a prayer. This is not a wish. This is a guarantee. Would you notice that little phrase, himself? God himself is gonna condescend and enter into your crucible of suffering and give you grace. Think about that, incredible. You will be tended to, not by angels, but by God Himself, because He's the God of all grace. Let's look at that word grace. In foundations, high school, college, and the like, we're doing a series this year on how does grace translate? How does the grace of God translate to holiness, to godliness, to service in our walks? How does it translate? How does it produce it? And the first thing that we've done is we lay down what the Bible means by grace. And we've seen it's not what you think. For most, in most churches, most people, most churches, most Christians, most churches, when they think of grace, if you ask them what's grace, they'll come up, if they can give an answer, they'll come up with something. Unmerited favor. Unmerited forgiveness. God's riches at Christ's expense. It's a principle of salvation. It's glorious. And that's right. And they're right. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace you've been saved through faith. That and out of yourselves. It is a gift of God. not as it ought to works, that no man should boast. You are saved by the grace of God, which means you've done nothing to earn your salvation. Christ has done it all. It's this glorious reality. It's the glorious workings of Christ. And now looking back, we're saved on this incredible principle. And that is, it is Christ who saves me, not me. I don't do anything. It's all God. But that's how where most people stop. That's grace. And yet that is the tip of the iceberg. Notice the comment Jerry Bridges made. When we think of grace, we almost always think of being saved by grace. That is why Ephesians 29 is so familiar to us. Even Christian literature available on the subject of grace seems to deal almost exclusively with salvation, what I'm calling the principle of unmerited forgiveness. But the Bible teaches we are not only saved by grace, but we also live by grace every day of our lives. It is this important aspect of grace that seems to be so little understood or practiced by Christians. Let me show you something, brothers and sisters. You've got the list right in front of you. The Bible uses grace in an incredibly broad way. It is a principle of unmerited forgiveness, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, but it's also a teacher, or I'm sorry, a teaching, a curriculum, Acts 14, 3, Acts 20, 32. It's what the whole word of God is the teaching of grace. Secondly, it's a teacher, Titus 2, 11 through 12. Not only is it the curriculum, it's a teacher. You can reference grace as that which teaches. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness. Fourthly. It's a worldview, 2 Corinthians 1.12. It's a pusto, Romans 5.2. You don't know what that word is? You'll learn it in a couple weeks. It's a pusto. Lastly, it's a divine enabling. Now this, I do want you to do a little bit of work here, okay? Get your nimble fingers going, or if you're on a phone, get your little slice of, or sliding fingers going. Everyone turn to 1 Corinthians 15.9. I mean, we're going to go forward from 1 Corinthians 15, 9, looking at four or five verses, but just turn there with me. 1 Corinthians 15, 9. Notice what Paul says here and what we learn about grace. Yes, grace is sola gratia. We are saved by grace alone. But brothers and sisters, grace is much more than just that. It also is divine enabling. First Corinthians 15, for I am the least of the apostles, says Paul, who am not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, that's the principle of unmerited forgiveness. By the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm saved by grace. Because of that grace, I'm now in his kingdom. And his grace toward me did not prove vain. That saving grace, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, didn't prove vain in my life. But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. It was the grace of God that enabled Paul to be and do what he was as an apostle. It's what enabled him to labor more than all of them. Grace is not just a principle of unmerited forgiveness, it's divine enabling. Do you understand that? It's God coming and enabling Paul to be what God would have him to be. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Go to 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. Next text. Paul writes, now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given the churches of Macedonia. So this is not the grace given to all Christians. This is a particular grace given to a particular people at a particular time. And what did that grace do? That in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of liberality. It was the grace of God that enabled them to have joy in the midst of their of their want and give when they had nothing to give. It was God's grace that enabled them to do that. Notice it's much more than a principle. It is divine enabling. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 8. Turn the page. 2 Corinthians 9, 8. Now talking about the Corinthians, not the Macedonians, Paul said, And God is able to make all grace abound to you. Now notice, what do you mean, Paul? That always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. Your good deeds are the overflow of God's enabling grace. That's what grace is. It's not just a principle of unmerited forgiveness. It is divine aid whereby God draws near and enables us physically enables us to do or to be what he wants us to be. It's incredible. 2 Thessalonians 1, 11. You see it used that way in 2 Thessalonians. Turn there. 2 Thessalonians 1, 11 through 12. Notice the text. To this end, we pray for you always, that our God may count you, listen to this prayer request, worthy of your calling. that you would fulfill every desire for goodness in the work of faith with power in order that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him. How's this going to come about, Paul? According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know how that's going to come about? By the grace of God. It's by the grace of God that you and I are going to have every desire for goodness and work of faith and power that will be worthy of our calling. It's God's enabling grace. 2 Thessalonians 2.16, turn the page. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace. If you have eternal comfort and good hope, that's because God's enabling grace in your life. And lastly, 416, last one, 416, notice how it's used there. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Do you understand, in the Bible, grace is a whole lot more than just a principle. In this case, it is divine aid. So when we come to our text, 1 Peter, notice with me, he's already talked about grace, verse 5. How does he use it? I already preached on this. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, their shepherds. Younger men, submit to the pastoral care. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Why? Because God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. If you want to grow in your walk with God, stop relying upon you. Recognize you have, even your righteousness is filthy rags. You have nothing to offer God. You have nothing to offer any man. And when you get to that point in your life, God now, Christ didn't go to the righteous, to the healthy, they didn't need God. But to those who recognize that they're spiritually poor, that they mourn over their sin, Matthew 5, those are the ones who go, God, I need your help. And so what does Peter say? He now advances it, 1 Peter 5, 10, after you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself. Do what? Perfect, strengthen, enable, et cetera. Brothers and sisters, thirdly, would you notice that When you're in the crucible, in fact, of all places in your life, where are you most vulnerable? Where are you most open to the grace of God? Well, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, when I'm weak. And what does suffering do across the board in people's lives? It lets us see how weak and frail we really are. And I thought I was so strong when I was in my youth. I lifted weights. I had a 650-pound deadlift. I remember lifting up that bar. And I couldn't probably get 200 off the ground. Lifting up that bar and watching the bar just sag. Every time I'd go like this, it would sag. And you're like, ooh, power. One little cancer could take care of that. I was so strong, so powerful, so mighty. I was such a nothing. And where does God show you that? Not when you're lifting weights with 600 pounds or 650 pounds bouncing off your body. God lets you see that when you're at the bottom, when you're in the crucible, when you're in the pits. Ironically, we look at suffering from a temporal perspective as what we want. And we go, God, that's not what I want. What have you done to me? Why are you doing that? God looks at it from an eternal perspective to give us what we need. And what do we need? We need Christ. By the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace taught me to not prevail. And man, Paul recognized it was in the crucible is when he was weak. That's when he's strong. So why? Why? Why trial, God? Why difficulty? Where are you, God, when it hurts? The answer is, I am right by your side. I'm within you, behind you, before you, lifting you up. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's testimony. What was it? They get thrown in a fiery furnace. They don't see them. The text does not indicate they see him, but Nebuchadnezzar goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Didn't we throw three people in that furnace? Why do I see four? And the fourth one is like the son of God. How in the world? Did that happen, says Nebuchadnezzar? In fact, it couldn't have been a person because all of his soldiers who were responsible for throwing those three in, Reid, Daniel, they died. They were executed. They lost their lives because the furnace was so hot to throw them in, killed them. So you have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking in the furnace of blazing fire with God himself holding them up such that when they come out, Their clothes aren't even singed. They don't even smell like fire. Brothers and sisters, do you understand? God's enabling grace is best seen in suffering. As James Dobson pointed out, three left the fire, but the fourth one never left the flames. He's still there, Christian. And if you find yourself going through trial and difficulty this day, you can be sure, you may not see him, but you can be sure Jesus Christ himself, God the Father himself is there. It's what it says right here. The God of, right? After you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace. Now what's the significance of all grace? Let's quickly wrap this up. It's not the God of some grace, some help. Read all grace, read all enabling power, all enabling power. What do you need, Christian? You're in the flame. What do you need? You're frightened about going into the flames. What do you need? You're struggling in your current faith walk. What do you need? The answer is not another book and not more information. What you need is Christ himself. That's what we learn. Spurgeon wrote, this is not the God of little graces. We have received grace already alone. But the God of the great boundless grace that is stored up for us in the promise, but that is yet have not received in our experience. The God of all grace, of quickening grace, of convincing grace, of pardoning grace, of believing grace. The God of comforting, supporting, sustaining grace. Surely when we come to him, we cannot come for too much. If he is the God not of one grace or of two graces, but of all graces, if in him there is stored up an infinite, boundless, limitless supply, how can we ask too much even though we ask that we may be perfect? Brothers and sisters, the third thing we learn about suffering, earthly suffering, it's not without divine aid. God's there. By faith, you've got to open your eyes and take your focus off getting better. See, when that becomes our goal, that becomes our grief and our grievance before God. Our goal is not to be better. Our goal is to seek and enjoy Christ in the flame. That's what Peter's getting at. You're going to be rounded up. You're going to be put in prison. You're going to be tortured. Some of you are going to be executed. And in and through it all, you've got to see the God of all grace himself is equipping, perfecting, and growing you in his kingdom. Don't miss that, Christian. Look for Christ. You'll never be disappointed. If you look for healing, or money, or success, or wealth, you'll always be dashed. But look for Christ in the flame. Look for Christ on the mountaintop. You'll never be disappointed because he's always there. That's Peter's third point. Where is God when it hurts? Brothers and sisters, he's right by your side. You just don't see him. By faith, trust him and believe. We'll pick this up next week and finish this section. Let's pray. Father, what a delight it is indeed to look at this text. There's so much here. God, I pray that we would take and receive this passage, and it would do nothing less than give us a greater hunger for Jesus Christ. Lord, it would do nothing less but give us a greater longing and vigilance in our walk with God, not this moment, but in the coming week and month and year. that, Father, we would seek your presence in the flame, outside of the flame, on the way to work, on the way home, when we're discouraged, when we're angry. God, give us the grace to seek you, our God. May that be our goal, our passion, to know the grace that has come to this earth, Titus 1, and has spoken. Lord, feed us. Fill us. with the grace which is Jesus Christ. And so Lord, give us the grace to view this world through the divine eye, not temporally, but eternally as you view it from your word, that we might be a people who understand that what we're going through is not unique, what we're going through is not eternal, and what we're going through is not void of your glorious presence. Give us, Lord, grace to believe. We believe, but help thou our unbelief. We pray this.